The modern cyclist, as they enter the sport, will find themselves purchasing a set of shoes which contain a cleat that clips into the pedals on their bike. It should come as no surprise, then, that the term we use for the action of engaging shoe to pedal is “clip in”. Obviously, this style of pedals is thusly called the “clipless pedal”. Such a seemingly counter-intuitive name owes itself to the history of the pedals which preceded it.
The name “Clipless Pedal” comes from 1984, when ski binding manufacturer Look invented a style of pedal from which you could release your foot with a sideways twisting motion. Before the Look pedal, riders rode with metal toe clips which were secured to the pedal platform, and lashed their feet to the contraption using a leather strap, named the “toe clip strap”. (Apparently, the same guy who named the toe clip strap wasn’t available when Look was divining the name for the clipless pedal). Since the toe clips were screwed to the pedals, the rider was similarly screwed should they need to disengage from said pedal unexpectedly; Jesper Skibby might have a note or two relating to their safety in the event of a crash on, say, the Koppenberg with cars whipping by.
But somewhere in there lies the secret to the name of these pedals; when Look’s pedals appeared in the peloton on the bikes belonging to Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond, they were missing the distinct metal toe clips – they were indeed clipless pedals.
Some rides were quick to adopt them. I’m guessing Skibby was among this group, but I’m not sure and finding out would require work. Others were more reluctant; Sean Kelly was the most stubborn of these riders, though I’m guessing that lashing your feet the pedals is more critical when you’re able to scare the cranks off your bike by dispatching an icy stare.
Nevertheless, it raises the question of when the tide turned and the new style of pedal became mainstream. Either the last Grand Tour or last World Championship to be won aboard the predecessor is as good a measure as any, so that brings us to 1987 when Stephen Roche dispatched both the Giro and the Tour – in addition to the World Championships – with the sunlight glinting off his toe clips as he crossed the finish line with arms aloft. In fact, he was also the last rider to take the treble of the Giro, the Tour, and the World Road Race all in one season. Coincidence? There are no coincidences. By 1988, the clipless pedal had risen.
You can get a fairly good gauge of how long a rider has been involved in the sport by their comfort – or, indeed understanding of – the term, which upon contemplation is quite conflicting. With the clipless pedal having fallen into ubiquity, riders who have begun cycling anywhere in the last 15 or so years could be forgiven for calling them “clip-ins” or “clip pedals”. But for those of us who lived through the change, there will always be some part of us which is ever aware of the lack of metal and leather lashing us to the bike. For us, the pedals we ride today will forever be the clipless pedal.
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Wow. The hair. The shades. The HAIR!
To date myself - I went clipless in 2006. I also promptly had a 0 kph tip over "crash". Jeez.
My Tommasini showed up with Campagnolo platforms and clips. For the first spin on it I rode them with some suede Sambas. I was completely blown away by how well they held my foot; I always assumed clips were sloppy.
Part of me marvels at guys racing non-clipless, part of me gets it.
And the rest of me thinks anyone who raced/Followed/rode like a demon with clips & straps is fucking awesome.
Phil Anderson -- Panasonic
@minion
Pure. Gold.
Perhaps you two should go with a hybrid handle. Franky + Minion = @manky
manky: /ˈmaŋki/
British informal
1 inferior; worthless:
2 dirty and unpleasant:
@unversio
I cannot begin to imagine how effing hot and uncomfortable those goggles would have been. I even switch from goggles to sunnies on the slopes when it gets above freezing. He looks none too pleased.
@ten B
You've dated yourself, youngster.
Those were not goggles, they're Oakley Factory Pilots, worn with an onion tied to your belt, which was the style at the time...
My first real pedals were Suntour Superbe. They looked much like Super Record, but were much cheaper. I never went in for alloy clips as they were just too fragile. They would fail as they would flex too much at the bend, and it wasn't worth the risk of having your clips fail for the sake of 10 or 20 grams. Always had Alfredo Binda straps, and at one stage had the the circular tabs that you fixed to the end of the strap with a grub screw, but realised after a while that it was just baggage.
My first pair of clipless pedals were Look PP76's that I got in about 1986 or so. They had an all metal body and were entirely black and bombproof. I turned them into fantastic crit pedals by basically grinding away at the axle body due to repeated pedal strikes in hard corners to increase the cornering angle clearance. (funny how it slows down your competition getting a pedal strike that lifts your back wheel 4 inches sideways pedalling through corners. Used to do this often as I had complete control over how far it would go. Tactics)
I then splashed out in 1988-9 for a pair of Look Carbons. Pieces of shit had a "carbon" back plate that engaged the cleat. It was really just black plastic, and it failed in a sub-zero february training ride in Toronto. I dropped $250 on those friggen things, and Look refused to warranty them as they assumed that I broke them in a crash. Bastardos.
Anyhoo. Straps. The trickiest experience I had with them was at the velodrome for the first time. Was a steep learing curve to do them up from a standing start on a fixed gear...
@DavidI
Welcome to the fold. Totally agree with you about the straps. Twist, yes. Leather, I know that they were available, but seemed wrong. Put your toes in and pull till you thought you were a Gisha Girl and off you went. If you were gonna ride on the track (and I think this still holds true for lots of guys), you'd use two straps. Part of me misses that a little bit.
On a side note; Frank loathes emoticons.
@scaler911
Wow, serious proof reading error. Leather was the only choice. I know nylon was available, but THAT seemed wrong.
@mouse
I appreciate the complement, but I think you've mistaken my ignorance for youth!
@frank
Me fail English? That's unpossible.
I used to race XC on the North Shore on rigid bikes with toe straps. Because nothing beats being pubescent and riding a trail called Severed Dick with 2.3" wide tires and hiking boots.
@TBONE
I wish that there was an edit button. I forgot to add the bit about the toe clips.